​For their exemplary contributions to women in higher education, ACE this evening honored Juliet V. García, president of The University of Texas at Brownsville, with the ACE Lifetime Achievement Award, and Karen S. Haynes, president of California State University San Marcos, with the 2013 Donna Shavlik Award.

The awards were presented at the ACE Women's Leadership Dinner, which was generously supported by SAGE, a leading independent academic and professional publisher. USA Today columnist and best-selling author Christine Brennan offered remarks about the 40th anniversary of Title IX at the event.

Earlier in the evening, the BRIDGES Academic Leadership for Women program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's William and Ida Friday Center for Continuing Education received the 2013 ACE Inclusive Excellence Group State Network Leadership Award, which recognizes an outstanding and innovative program that advances women's leadership in higher education. BRIDGES Program Advisory Board Chair Chená Flood was present to accept the award.

Juliet V. García joined The University of Texas System in 1992 as president of The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) after serving as president of Texas Southmost College (TSC) for six years. When she was named president of TSC in 1986, she became the first Mexican-American woman in the nation to lead a college or university. She led the drive to establish UTB and to form a unique partnership between the university and TSC.

"It is a special honor to give President García the ACE Lifetime Achievement Award," said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad. "She has truly been a trailblazer for women and Mexican-Americans and an innovator on campus, creating a special partnership with UTB and TSC that now serves such an incredibly important role in the region."

Under García's leadership, the campus has grown from 49 acres to more than 460 acres; the budget has increased from $31.4 million to $173 million; and the total fall enrollment has grown from 7,000 to more than 15,000.

Among the many honors García has received for her work is induction into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement in Education and the Hispanic Heritage Award. Most recently, TIME named her one of the Top 10 college presidents. She also served as chair of the ACE Board of Directors from 1994-95.

García received her doctorate in communication and linguistics from The University of Texas at Austin and honorary degrees from The University of Notre Dame (IN) and Brown University (RI).

​

​Karen Haynes (left) with Donna Shavlik. (Click to enlarge.)

"Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk"

ACE established the Donna Shavlik Award to honor the long and outstanding service of Donna Shavlik, former director of ACE's Office of Women in Higher Education (now known as the Inclusive Excellence Group). Presented annually, the award honors an individual whose leadership demonstrates a sustained commitment to advancing women in higher education, through leadership and career development, campus climate and mentoring.

This year's recipient is Karen S. Haynes, president of California State University San Marcos. Haynes has transformed the campus into a model environment for women, promoting and hiring women to prominent leadership positions, including the vice president of finance and administrative services and the vice president of community engagement.

"On women's leadership, President Haynes talks the talk and walks the walk. She is continuously involved in women's groups on campus and has been a mentor to many others," said Broad. "This type of engagement enables other qualified women to advance into leadership roles, which is the true spirit of the Donna Shavlik Award."

Haynes also served as the first woman dean at The University of Houston and has a longstanding history with ACE's Women's Network. She helped renew and reinvigorate the Texas State Network and did the same for the Southern California State Network, for which she has been the presidential sponsor for seven years. She has served on the ACE Commission on Women and currently serves on the ACE Commission on Inclusion.

Haynes has received several awards and honors, including the 2010 San Diego Business Journal's Most Admired CEO Award. She was honored in 2007 with the San Diego YWCA's Top Women in Industry Award and the San Diego Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business Award.

A trained social worker, Haynes has written several articles and books on social justice and leadership, including A Dream and a Plan: A Woman's Path to Leadership in Human Services and Women Managers in Human Services, and the landmark text, Affecting Change: Social Workers in the Political Arena, now in its seventh edition. She holds a bachelor's degree from Goucher College (MD), a doctorate in social work from The University of Texas in Austin and an MSW from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

The ACE State Network Leadership Award was presented earlier in the evening to BRIDGES, an intensive professional development program for women in higher education who seek to gain or strengthen their academic leadership capabilities.

"BRIDGES, under the leadership of Program Director Annette Madden and Advisory Board Chair Chená Flood, exemplifies a great approach to fostering women's professional growth," said Kim Bobby, director of ACE's Inclusive Excellence Group. "It is through efforts like this that we can successfully ensure the future leadership of higher education more closely resembles the makeup of the student body and the nation it serves."

Through BRIDGES, participants develop insights into leadership, with a particular focus on the special skills and attributes women bring to their leadership roles; acquire an understanding of the many facets of colleges and universities; refine and improve their cross-cultural communication skills; and create a program of personal and professional development to benefit them and their institutions.

Other ACE News

In today’s headlines, The New York Times op-ed page looks at the debate over how to ensure high quality teacher education programs. In other news, The Chronicle of Higher Education writes about how the University of Pennsylvania is examining its...

​Members of the 12th Cohort of ACE’s Internationalization Laboratory joined in a robust discussion Friday, Feb. 13 in Washington during the mid-year seminar to explore several campus internationalization issues, with creating campus-wide buy in and...

ACE and 11 other higher education associations sent a letter Feb. 27 to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in support of his recently introduced bill to make a number of important reforms to the American Opportunity Tax Credit and Lifetime Learning Credit.